This isn’t about a zoning-Borg or Noah stopping Nadal. This about about the right lineup wearing down Nadal enough to where he caves in the 7th match of a historic draw that is rigged against him.
As for videos of guys in the 1970s hitting slow balls;’of course they hit the ball like 7th graders today. I have personally played with rackets from the 1970s, all the way up to modern rackets. At age 56 now as an overweight old man, I have more power now than I did 35 years ago, despite me being at my physical peak back then. Why? it’s not because I squat 180 lbs less now than I did in my early 20s. It’s also not because I bench 50 lbs less. It’s not because I’m 3 seconds slower in the 100 meter dash than I was during my competitive days. It’s all because of technology. Also, modern rackets extended my playing time by at least 20 years. Modern technology completely got rid of my chronic tennis elbow and nagging shoulder pain. Modern rackets allow easy power these days. It’s like whiffle ball.
As for Borg, he’s the same height as Agassi, but only about 1/2 inch shorter than Alcaraz, a 4-slam winner. We saw what old man Agassi could do against Federer on occasion. And Agassi never moved well. That was the criticism he received in his early 20s. He was like a snail when he faced Federer in 2004 and 2005 at the USO. Why did a shrimp like Agassi as a very old man challenge peak Fed on occasion? Why did a blunt instrument Neanderthal man like Fed as a very old man challenge the much taller and more evolved Medvedev in 2019?
Borg’s movement is among the best in history. He also had elite endurance. I’d stack up his endurance vs anybody’s. And he served a lot better than Andre did, which is why he was a stone-cold killer on grass and carpet. Give Borg modern training, supplements, rackets, shoes, etc and he will be good enough to at least make Nadal work hard for his wins on clay(I’m still going 7-3 Nadal HTH over a modernized Borg). But with a historically rigged draw where we choose players zoning in history at one event, they have a chance to wear down Nadal enough to a point where a fresh Borg takes out an exhausted Nadal in the 5th set.
As for other sports, we can see how technology affected performance. It’s night and day. It goes that way for baseball, track, tennis, and racquetball; the sports I’ve played.
Owens from 1936 is likely a top-20 sprinter ever, despite being 5 foot 10 with garbage training. I’d argue that he’s easily top-10, when factoring in his lack of advanced training, medicine, massage therapy, chiropractors, nutrition, supplements, etc.
